Paradise Audiobook By Lizzie Johnson cover art

Paradise

One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire

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Paradise

By: Lizzie Johnson
Narrated by: Lizzie Johnson
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About this listen

The definitive firsthand account of California’s Camp Fire, the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century, Paradise is a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds.

“A tour de force story of wildfire and a terrifying look at what lies ahead.”—San Francisco Chronicle (Best Books of the Year)

On November 8, 2018, the people of Paradise, California, awoke to a mottled gray sky and gusty winds. Soon the Camp Fire was upon them, gobbling an acre a second. Less than two hours after the fire ignited, the town was engulfed in flames, the residents trapped in their homes and cars. By the next morning, eighty-five people were dead.

As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Lizzie Johnson was there as the town of Paradise burned. She saw the smoldering rubble of a historic covered bridge and the beloved Black Bear Diner and she stayed long afterward, visiting shelters, hotels, and makeshift camps. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting and reams of public records, including 911 calls and testimony from a grand jury investigation, Johnson provides a minute-by-minute account of the Camp Fire, following residents and first responders as they fight to save themselves and their town. We see a young mother fleeing with her newborn; a school bus full of children in search of an escape route; and a group of paramedics, patients, and nurses trapped in a cul-de-sac, fending off the fire with rakes and hoses.

In Paradise, Johnson documents the unfolding tragedy with empathy and nuance. But she also investigates the root causes, from runaway climate change to a deeply flawed alert system to Pacific Gas and Electric’s decades-long neglect of critical infrastructure. A cautionary tale for a new era of megafires, Paradise is the gripping story of a town wiped off the map and the determination of its people to rise again.

©2021 Lizzie Johnson (P)2021 Random House Audio
Climate Change Disaster Relief Environment Science Social Sciences Transportation

Critic reviews

“Immediate and emotionally devastating . . . Johnson works to balance the imperative of narrative tension with respect for the unimaginable tragedy, and the resulting work is worth the emotional toll of reading it.”—Los Angeles Times

“In this reportorial tour de force, Lizzie Johnson captures the orange-black hell of the Paradise wildfire in wrenching, skin-singeing detail. You can smell the smoke, feel the super-heated air. After reading this book I wanted to clear all brush and trees away from my home—and I live in Manhattan.”—Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile

“A masterful feat of reporting and climate-era storytelling. [Johnson] has taken the story of a rough-hewn town of retirees and Trumpers, population 27,000 (pre-fire), and turned it into a parable of suffering and loss, of love and heroism.”—Rolling Stone

What listeners say about Paradise

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Compelling Storytelling Detailed Personal Accounts Descriptive Words Well-crafted Narrative Impactful True Story
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Amazing Storytelling!

The most comprehensive account of the Camp Fire I’ve ever read. However, Lizzie Johnson’s articulate narrative brought the story to life - unlike any other audiobook I’ve ever listened to. A very moving experience.

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Personalization of a terrible tragedy

We all remember seeing this horrific story unfold on the news. The author tells the complete story supported by facts and illustrated with stories of those most significantly impacted. Extremely well done.

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Such a difficult story, but so well told.

As someone who works in public outreach for a fire agency in a wildfire prone area, this is a great piece of work that I recommend to every fire official, planning official, local leader, legislator, etc.

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Haunted my dreams

Listening to this book on my morning walks haunted my dreams at night. It’s that good. I live not far from Paradise and still remember that first day vividly.

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A riveting account

The book covers the events of 2018 when a California wildfire burned down the town of Paradise, making it at the time the US' deadliest wildfire in a century. I read this as a part of a book club, we decided on this book only a few days after the horrible events of the Maui wildfires (2023) so reading it in the aftermath of those events also made it even more impactful. But also it drew attention to the book's description which says: "a riveting examination of what went wrong and how to avert future tragedies as the climate crisis unfolds".

The description of how the events unfolded is chilling and demonstrates how horribly things can go wrong in a situation like this, both with logistics and technology, not to mention the role that infrastructure and lack of maintenance played in this tragedy.

There are many heartbreaking passages but the list of casualties and their circumstances when found was extremely sad for me, a bit reminiscent of how I felt witnessing the victims of Pompeii.

All in all I felt the writing was good. It does a good job of relating both personal and public records of events.

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Hands down amazing!

Lizzie did a phenomenal job writing this book as well as narrating it! The book packs more of a punch when the real author is reading it. The interviews she conducted, the stories she shared, and the carefully crafted way she wrote this book share the true devastation that Paradise went through.

From listening to this book alone, you can hear she cares about the topic, she cares about the people, and she wants to see change in the future when it comes to wildfire damage. I will always recommend this book, because it for every kind of person to read. My heart goes out to all of the victims of the 2018 wildfire, the ones proceeding and for all of those whose lives preventable and unpreventable wildfires will affect in the future.

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A world class nonfiction book

A suspense filled true history of the incineration of a town. And the courageous people who lived there. So incredibly touching. Thank you Lizzie Johnson for the years of your life you spent on this project. I especially loved how though you clearly have a point of view on the causes of this fire, you reported the facts and the science without trying to paint anyone as the villain of the piece. You made the causes of these fires and the fixes easy to understand. So difficult to implement though. God willing we as a people will begin this task.

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A Great Documen-story.

My daughter was one of the CalFire Butte ECC Dispatchers on duty the morning this fire started. She took many, many 911 calls from people who never made it out; as did every one of the other dispatchers. She couldn't, & still cannot, go into much detail about what she heard; and she will never fully recover from the emotional trauma of hearing screams of dying people she knew would never be rescued. It nearly destroyed her, & ended her 14 year career as a dispatcher.
This book told me much of what she has tried to tell me about what was going on in this horrific disaster, and has never been able to finish. I appreciate that more than I can say.
This book made me cry, made me angry, and made me shake my head in disgust & disbelief.
It also made me feel awestruck at the courage & unity of the people of Paradise. And it made me feel so proud of the Emergency Services personnel giving everything they had to the fight...many of whom both my husband & myself worked along side in Nevada, Yuba,, & Sutter Counties until our retirement in 2012.
Thank you for tying up a lot of loose ends of this incident for us.

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Wow - a wake up call

I thought the book started a bit slow, and the narrator sounds very young. However, the personal experiences relayed were so compelling I stuck with it, and ultimately finished the book with “wow” in my mind.
I live within an hour of Paradise in the Sierra foothills, and even sheltered a refugee for a few days in the aftermath of the Camp fire. We live here with the constant threat of fire, however this book made it real for me. It made me think about the shortcomings in our own evacuation planning, and I have to think that that’s part of the point in writing the book. A required read for anyone living in an area under this threat.

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What a story!

Lizzie, wow! I’ve truly enjoyed listening to your voice, descriptive words and heart. I was furious one moment and in a heap of tears the next throughout this journey. As a Californian, and Chico State graduate, I could visualize so many places you wrote about. As a journalist who shared this news down in Fresno, I am impressed (but not surprised ) by your talent and professionalism. I’m recommending your book to everyone because it’s important to remember our state history and the good people of Paradise. You are a bright light in our profession. Keep it up!

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